Dragon ASCII Art: Western and Eastern Dragons in Text
Dragon ASCII art to copy: a winged western dragon, a long eastern dragon and small dragon heads, with tips for drawing wings, scales and fire with keyboard characters.
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8%%%%&%%88&8888W888&#obpwmO0QQQQ0OZwpba*#WWWM#MMMM*MMMM#WWWWM&&&&W&&88W88%%&%%%%
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8BBBB8%%%%&%%%%&&apm0JYzcvvuuuuuuuvczXJQZpk#W#WWWW#WWW&M&&88W8888&%%%%8BBBB8BB@@
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&%888&8888W888&WWhpZQJXzcvuuunnnuuvvcXULZqk#&M*akbpqwwwwqpdka*WB@%@@@@B@$$$B$$$$
&8888W8888W88&&W&&*kqm0CUYXzzccczzYUCQZqbo&88W&M*ahkkbbbkha*M8B@@%@@@@B$$$$B$$$$
W&&&&W&&&&M&&WWMWWWW*adqmZ0QLLLLQ0Omqdh*M&&&&W&&8&M#****#W&%8BBBB%B@@@%@@@@B@@@@
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W&&&&MWWWW#WWWW#WMMM#MMMM#MMWW#WWW&M&&&&W8888&%%%%8%%BB8BBBB%@@@@B@@@@B@@@@B$$$$
W8&&&W&&&&M&WWWMWWWW#WWWW#WWW&M&&88W8888&%%%%8BBBB8B@@@%@@@@B$$$$B$$$$@$$$$@$$$$
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W&&&&M&&WWMWWWW#WWWW#WWW&M&&88W8888&%%%%8BBBB8BB@@%@@@@B$$$$B$$$$@$$$$@$$$$@$$$$A winged dragon
Copy this monospace text art for Discord, code comments or terminal banners.
/\ /\
/ \ ___ / \
/ /\ \/o o\/ /\ \
/_/ \_\ v /_/ \_\
\_/
_____/ \_____
<______ ______>~~~
//\\
// \\Wings, scales and fire
Dragons are built from a few repeated pieces. Wings are big triangles made of / and , often with a second smaller triangle inside for the membrane. Scales are a pattern such as ^^^^ or vvvv along the back, or a run of brackets like ((((. Fire is a sideways cone of characters that get lighter as they spread:
__/o\
<__ >~~#%*+:.
\_/ ~#%*+:. .
Going from dense characters (# %) near the mouth to light ones (: .) at the end gives the flame its fade, the same trick the converter uses to shade a photo.
Eastern dragons are long, not tall
A Chinese or Japanese dragon has no wings: it is a long serpentine body with small legs, whiskers and a mane. In text that means a wave that runs across several lines, with the head at one end:
__ /\_
(oo) ~\_ _/~~\_ _/~~\_
\/ \__ \_/ \__/ \~~>
m m
The ~ characters are the mane and the m characters are feet. Making it longer only means repeating the middle hump.
From a dragon drawing to text
Dragon artwork is usually detailed and colourful, so the tool on this page uses the 70-character "Detailed" ramp at 80 characters wide, which keeps more of the scales and texture than the 10-character classic set. Line art and tattoo-style drawings convert best. For a painted dragon, switch on Sobel Edge Detection to keep the outline of the wings.
Frequently asked questions
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